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| Kanza, 17 Oct. 2013 |
I traveled down to the Bootheel of Missouri to check on a cultivar trial we established near New Madrid. Most of the cultivars under test had split shuck by 17 Oct. 2013 with the exception of Oconee. I peeled out an Oconee nut and it looked to be at least a week away from ripening. This year, Kanza, Lakota, and Gardner were the most impressive in terms of yield. Photos of some of the cultivars we have under test can be found above and below.
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| Gardner, 17 Oct. 2013 |
In addition to collecting nut samples from each cultivar in the test, I did learn that raccoons love the taste of pecans. It looks like the 'coons devoured every nut from the Oswego, City Park, and about one half of the Pawnee trees. Unlike squirrels that start eating pecans as soon as they enter the dough stage (mid-August), raccoons wait until shuck split to steal nuts. Once the shuck splits open, a raccoon will peel off the upper portion of the shuck, snatch out the nut, and leave the bottom portion of the shuck as evidence of their thieving ways.
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| Lakota, 17 Oct. 2013 |
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| Surecrop, 17 Oct. 2013 |
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| USDA 75-8-5, 17 Oct. 2013 |
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| Oconee, 17 Oct. 2013 |
